Tuesday, September 4, 2012

This year's Deutsche Börse Photography prize has been awarded to John Stezaker. Born in the UK in 1949 Stezaker was nominated for his exhibition at London's Whitechapel Gallery, which ran 29 January – 18 March 2011.

Stezaker's collages examine our multi-faceted relationship to the
image. Through his juxtapositions of found photographs, illustrations
and stills taken from books, magazines, vintage postcards and classic
movies, Stezaker adopts the content and contexts of the original images
to convey new and often poignant meanings.

The four shortlisted photographers this year were Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, John Stezaker and Christopher Williams.

The annual award of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any
nationality, for a specific body of work in an exhibition or publication
format, which has significantly contributed to the medium of
photography in Europe between 1 October 2010 and 30 September 2011.

About Me

My pictures explore the strange anthropology of cities. The unusual and overlooked in the human landscape.
I am asking the viewer to question the idea that photographs as documents are complete representations of subject.
I'm interested in the universality of life and the idea of parallel lives - when one thing is happening here, something else is happening over there. The democracy of non-places fascinates me, in the knowledge that inevitably nothing is as it seems.
I work and live between Auckland and Paris.
http://harveybenge.com/
email:harvey.benge@xtra.co.nz